Challenging AIPAC’s Abuse of Taxpayers
NOVANEWS
U.S. citizens bankrolling Israel’s system of occupation, racial discrimination and denial of basic human rights with billions annually without knowing what they were funding and why
By Omar Barghouti
The Arab democratic spring, striving to end authoritarian rule and establish freedoms and social justice, has not been welcome by all. Israel and its main lobby in the U.S., the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for instance, appear to have been caught off guard and visibly disturbed by the seemingly irreversible transformations that these uprisings promise to bring about in the Arab world and, to an extent, the world at large.
ARAB DEMOCRATIC SPRING — 2011
Having stood on the wrong side of history during the Tunisian and then the Egyptian revolutions, supporting the despots and authoritarian regimes against the people, Israel has a lot to lose from the democratic winds of change in the region. When Hosni Mubarak was about to be overthrown by the people’s revolution in Egypt Israel launched a diplomatic campaign to convince key Western capitals to support him lest stability is lost and Israel’s other tyrannical friends in the region feel abandoned.
In Tunisia, as well, the vaunted electronic surveillance apparatus of the former dictator Ben-Ali was run in close cooperation with Israel, as exposed by Tunisian civil society organizations. With more of Israel’s friends in the region being dethroned, it is becoming abundantly clear how much Israel and its Western partners have invested in safeguarding and buttressing the unelected, autocratic regimes in the Arab world, partially to make a self-fulfilling prophecy of Israel as the “villa in the midst of the jungle” — the myth often repeated by AIPAC. The impact of debunking that myth cannot be overstated.
Israel has, for decades, extracted billions of dollars, not to mention diplomatic, political, and scientific support from the U.S. and European states partially based on this misleading image of Israeli democracy, and despite all the evidence to the contrary. A state that has been imposing an occupation regime for almost 44 years on Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza, that has denied on racial grounds millions of refugees their UN-sanctioned right to return home, and that is regularly condemned by its chief benefactor and ally, the U.S. government, for its “system of institutional, legal and societal discrimination” against its own Palestinian minority carrying Israeli citizenship cannot reasonably be regarded as a “democracy.”
STOP AIDING OCCUPATION WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS
The fact is, U.S. citizens have been bankrolling Israel’s system of occupation, racial discrimination and denial of basic human rights to the tune of billions of dollars annually without knowing what they were funding and why. AIPAC is the main culprit in this process of defrauding the American people, while one cannot ignore the fact that the U.S. military and oil establishments have also stood to gain from Israel’s colonial expansion, endless bloody wars of aggression, and role as the police of the region, preventing popular revolt from threatening the pillage of its vast strategic resources.
GAME OVER AIPAC
For many years AIPAC has falsely advertised Israel as a democratic state that best serves U.S. interests in a turbulent and unpredictable part of the world, covering up Israel’s suppression of human rights and its very nature as a state premised on fanatic militarism, racial segregation and injustice, contrary to the supposed “shared values” with the “West” that AIPAC has fed to the American public so effectively with its well-oiled media machine and its unmatched power of intimidation as well as suppression of debate and dissent by anyone who dares to slightly step out of line and question the “Israel-first” agenda.
But given that Israel in the last few years, especially since the start of the recent Arab revolutions, has largely and quite demonstrably failed in hindering the outbreak of popular uprisings and democratic transformations in the Middle East, leading pundits have started to raise serious doubts about the taken-for-granted mantra of convergence between Israeli and American interests.
STOP AMERICAS WARS FOR AIPAC
Furthermore, at a time when average Americans are losing jobs, benefits and hope, should the U.S. be spending billions to help Israel maintain its regime of oppression and violations of international law? When schools and hospitals in the U.S. are being closed, and when hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers are mired in endless wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere, where they sow mass destruction and death among the populations of these countries, while they themselves suffer increasing casualties, should U.S. taxpayers continue to fund this immoral war agenda? Should Israel and its lobby groups be allowed to pull the U.S. into more wars or to continue to justify Israel’s own brutal and patently illegal wars of aggression, as the one against Palestinians in Gaza in 2008-09 and on Lebanon in 2006?
If members of the U.S. Congress dare not ask these critical questions for fear of AIPAC’s wrath – perceived and carefully marketed as invincible – and an almost certain loss of career, shouldn’t the working people of the U.S. pose them and demand accountability and, indeed, democratic regime change?
It is in this context that one cannot but highly admire the courage, creativity and resilience of human rights and advocacy groups in the U.S., like CODEPINK, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace and many others that insist on challenging AIPAC’s domination of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond and its detrimental and deeply corrupting influence over U.S. decision making in general. The CODEPINK-led campaign to “expose AIPAC and usher in a new foreign policy,” to be launched in Washington, DC in May is a badly needed and truly inspiring effort that should be widely supported by all those who care about the cause of justice and peace in the U.S. and, by extension, the entire world.
The Birth of Zio-Nazi State and Pain of Palestine
NOVANEWS
by Eileen fleming
“On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations.” – May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel
In 2008, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation sponsored a competition to express the Palestinian narrative from 1948 in the form of visual arts, poetry, essays, music, video and digital media. I received Honorable Mention, which follows, because as Don Hewitt instructed his “60 Minutes” staff
“The formula is simple and it’s reduced to four words every kid in the world knows: Tell me a story. It’s that easy.”-Don Hewitt
And by the way, in 2006 I snail mailed “60 Minutes” -and many other of the top USA Media outlets a DVD copy of “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and also hand delivered 50 copies to members of Congress.
I still have NOT received a reply from any!
Keep Hope Alive
The wailing of families throughout Majd Al Krum could be heard for miles that cold night in October 1948. In single file, under the cover of darkness, Khaled, his sister, two cousins and hundreds of neighbors guided by only the light of a crescent moon trekked through the Galilee to Lebanon fearing for their lives, for the Israeli army had surrounded their village.
Twenty-one hours later they reached the town of Bint Jubayl and the family joined the end of a queue at a water well. The land owner offered them drink and hard crusts of bread and Khaled told him of their twenty-one hour odyssey of terror. Their host sighed and shrugged, then handed Khaled a blanket and pointed them down the grove where they could sleep amongst thousands of other Palestinian refugees. When they found an unoccupied olive tree they spread the blanket atop the dirt and roots and huddled together beneath the tree’s broad canopy and fell into an exhausted sleep.
The next day, a mile from the grove, the young family found a vacant, unfurnished room in an unfinished building and sat down. For two days, they moved in a cloud of unknowing as more refugees flooded into Lebanon. On the third day Khaled announced, “We must move on. I say we go to Damascus. I have my teacher’s certificate with me. I will teach the children of wealthy merchants, and we will eat and sleep without fear until we can return home.”
He smiled, remembering the fierce joy of Khaldiyeh and Latifah when they erupted into song and dance, and Little Mo asked, “Why not?” It was their first laugh since leaving home.
The only transportation available was a decrepit old train that had once carried livestock. Hundreds of refugees were packed in like standing sardines and people relieved themselves and vomited all around the young family. After five hours, Khaled noticed the girls looked ready to pass out and announced that they must all jump off.
“I will count to twenty, and then we must all jump at the same time. Are you ready?”
The girls were visibly trembling, but nodded yes. Little Mo appeared stoic, but quaked within. Khaled counted slowly as they all stood at the edge of the open car holding hands. When Khaled screamed “twenty,” he, Little Mo, and Latifah jumped, but not Khaldiyeh!
With astounding power Khaled ran after the train, climbed back aboard, grabbed his sister, picked her up, and jumped off once more. The siblings were scraped and bruised, but grateful to get off that wretched train. They all laughed for the second time since they had fled Majd Al Krum.
The young family walked the remaining mile to Beirut, where they spent the night wide awake in a bus depot, waiting for their ride to Damascus. They were filled with idealistic, youthful hopes, until their connection arrived, carrying thousands of dazed and confused Palestinians.
After disembarking from the long, silent ride, Khaled led his family into a dingy gray Damascus neighborhood. He was able to afford a few nights in a sparsely furnished attic room. On the third day, he ventured alone into the center of the cradle of civilization.
The Damascus streets sights and smells overwhelmed Khaled’s senses. His gait slowed to a shuffle as he inhaled and savored the pungent spices of meats and the sweet perfume of fresh fruits. He stopped at a booth displaying rugs and despaired at the thought of his family sleeping another night on a bare floor.
With a crooked smile the Syrian merchant inquired, “Which carpet is it that you desire?” Khaled pointed to the thinnest scrap and asked “How much?”
“Only 125 Syrian liras. It is a bargain, and it is a fine eye you have for excellent quality. I see you are a smart young man, who will not pass up my gracious offer.”
Khaled was shocked into silence. The amount was five times more than he possessed. He turned to leave, as the rug merchant shouted, “How much can you spend? You cannot just walk away from me. What can you afford? You cannot treat me this way! You must answer me. How much can you spend?”
Khaled never had experienced such a verbal assault from any of the merchants in his hometown, and blurted out, “I have twenty-five Syrian liras.”
The rug merchant’s face clouded over with concern, and he asked, “Ah, young man, are you a refugee?”
Khaled sighed and nodded sadly.
The merchant smiled broadly as he extended his palm to receive all that Khaled had and effusively expressed, “I am so very sorry for all of you refugees. My dear boy, I will lose a lot by accepting your offer. But I feel so sorry for you. I will suffer the loss to make a poor refugee happy.”
Khaled ran and danced his way home, proudly carrying the scrap of wool high above his head. The young family danced with joy on top of their new rug until a booming knock on their door startled them into silence. Khaled opened the door and in popped their landlady, “Just what is all the commotion about? I thought you were coming through the ceiling; you all made so much noise,” she complained.
Khaled proudly pointed to the rug and told of the excellent bargain he had made. The landlady stood upon the scrap and sniffed twice. She spoke through a smirk, “Oh, I have the same rug and paid only nineteen Syrian liras for it.”
One month after fleeing their comfortable home in Majd Al Krum the family traveled on bus and train for the two day journey to Khaled’s new job as a math teacher in the town of Hasaka, Syria.
The train was unheated, and the bus carried people, goats, sheep, and chickens that spilled out from all sides. They traveled on rocky dirt roads and saw only homes made of mud. By midnight, they arrived at the town of Hasaka and checked into the nearest hotel. Khaled was aghast when he opened his thin wallet and handed over the first night’s rent. They were now out of money.
Their senses were assaulted by the damp, musky smell that permeated the tattered building on the way to their room furnished with only four thin mattresses on a wooden floor, a chipped table, a cracked water pitcher, and a naked light bulb set in an old wine bottle. The three fell asleep immediately, but Khaled remained wide awake engulfed by dark, tormenting thoughts of suicide and homicide in those last few hours before he reported to his first day on the job.
At three AM, the door shot open, and in charged two Syrian policemen. The girls screamed and the police accused them of prostitution. In fear and trembling, Khaled recounted the events of the past month as the police examined their papers and it was nearly dawn before the police were satisfied and left.
Khaled’s dark mood turned more bitter with every step towards the school building on that frigid damp morning. He sighed and fumed as he waited for the Principal, Mr. Hamza to arrive. When he did, Khaled could barely mumble a greeting and followed the regal Kurd in a daze, to his classroom where Mr. Hamza introduced him to the students, waved and left
Khaled looked into the eyes of thirty adolescent boys, picked up the math book and demanded to know just what they did and did not know. The bravest boy in the class blurted out indignantly, “What is your problem? We just want to learn, not fight with you.”
Khaled retorted, “You all may be too stupid to learn anything, but I will try.”
At the end of the school day, the students cut and ran from Khaled and descended upon Mr.Hamza’s office demanding he fire the new math teacher. After hearing them out, Mr. Hamza found a trembling Khaled sitting in the darkened classroom and softly inquired, “What happened in here? Is it money? Do you need money?”
Without waiting for a reply, Mr. Hamza opened his wallet, took out a month’s worth of wages, and handed it to Khaled. “Now Khaled, go home, feed your family, and get some sleep. And make sure you report back to work tomorrow morning. Don’t thank me, but help another whenever you can.”
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Another Chapter from KEEP HOPE ALIVE which reports my first of 7 trips to Israel Palestine: 16 Days in Palestine
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THE Ongoing NAKBA: Read more…
Army Investigation Over False Accusations Ruined Our Lives, Say Muslim Soldiers
NOVANEWS
What is it about the U.S. Army brass? Do you have to fail a test to be promoted? Do you have to be a Biblical literalist? Check out Army Vet and Muslim Sgt. Key to Saddam Capture Speaks Out on Islamophobia. Maybe to tolerate this bigoted crap in our military you really do need to be a fool.
By Joseph Rhee and Chris Cuomo at ABC News

Five Muslims who joined the Army to work as military translators say their lives and careers were ruined after they were falsely accused of trying to poison their fellow soldiers. In an interview for ABC News, two of the men say an Army investigation into the matter has cast a stigma on their lives, preventing them from gaining citizenship and employment.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ This is not America, that’s not why I joined the Army,” said one of the men, 34-year-old Khalid Lyaacoubi.
The men are all citizens of Morocco who were permanent “green card” residents of the U.S. They joined the Army in 2009 as part of a special program called “09 Lima” that would train them to work as Army translators in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous jobs in the military. In return for their service, the men would be fast tracked for U.S. citizenship.
“We want to prove to Arabic nations, ‘we are Arabic and we live here. We lived with Americans and socialized with Americans.’ We know they are good,” said Lyaacoubi.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ This is not America, that’s not why I joined the Army,” said one of the men, 34-year-old Khalid Lyaacoubi on the right walking with another Muslim recruit, 27-year-old Yassine Bahammou.”The United States is known for fighting for other people’s freedom, and I like it and I wanted to help doing that,” said another Muslim recruit, 27-year-old Yassine Bahammou.
The Persecution of John Demjanjuk
NOVANEWS
By Patrick J. Buchanan
“John Demjanjuk Guilty of Nazi Death Camp Murders,” ran the headline on the BBC. The lede began:
“A German court has found John Demjanjuk guilty of helping to murder more than 28,000 Jews at a Nazi death camp in Poland.”
Not until paragraph 17 does one find this jolting fact: “No evidence was produced that he committed a specific crime.”
That is correct. No evidence was produced, no witness came forward to testify he ever saw Demjanjuk injure anyone. And the critical evidence that put Demjanjuk at Sobibor came — from the KGB.
First was a KGB summary of an alleged interview with one Ignat Danilchenko, who claimed he was a guard at Sobibor and knew Demjanjuk. Second was the Soviet-supplied ID card from the Trawniki camp that trained guards.
There are major problems with both pieces of “evidence.”
First, Danilchenko has been dead for a quarter of a century, no one in the West ever interviewed him, and Moscow stonewalled defense requests for access to the full Danilchenko file. His very existence raises a question.
How could a Red Army soldier who turned collaborator and Nazi camp guard survive Operation Keelhaul, which sent all Soviet POWs back to Joseph Stalin, where they were either murdered or sent to the Gulag?
As for the ID card from Trawniki, just last month there was unearthed at the National Archives in College Park, Md., a 1985 report from the Cleveland office of the FBI, which, after studying the card, concluded it was “quite likely” a KGB forgery.
“Justice is ill-served in the prosecution of an American citizen on evidence which is not only normally inadmissible in a court of law, but based on evidence and allegations quite likely fabricated by the KGB.”
This FBI report, never made public, was done just as Demjanjuk was being deported to Israel to stand trial as “Ivan the Terrible,” the murderer of Treblinka. In a sensational trial covered by the world’s press, Demjanjuk was convicted and sentenced to hang.
But after five years on death row, new evidence turned up when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia opened up. That evidence wholly validated the claims of Demjanjuk’s defenders.
Not only had Demjanjuk never even been at Treblinka, the Soviet files contained a photograph of the real “Ivan” — a larger and older man.
To its eternal credit, the Israeli Supreme Court reversed the conviction, rejected a request to retry Demjanjuk as a camp guard elsewhere in Poland, freed him and sent him home to America.
Exposed as a laughing stock, and denounced for fraud by Ohio district and appellate courts, the Office of Special Investigations began crafting a new case, John Demjanjuk of Sobibor, to deport and try again the old man whose defense attorneys had made fools of them.
Thus the Sobibor story and Demjanjuk’s supposed complicity in the murder of 28,000 Jews — though, as the BBC notes, no one testified at the trial that they ever saw John Demjanjuk injure anyone.
Consider the life this tormented American has lived.
Born in Ukraine in 1920, as a boy he endured the Holodomor — the famine imposed on his people in 1932 and 1933 by Stalin and his hated henchman Lazar Kaganovich, which resulted in the starvation and death of somewhere between 5 million and 9 million Ukrainians.
It has been called by historians the “forgotten Holocaust.”
Conscripted into the Red Army, Demjanjuk was captured in the German blitzkrieg. Unlike American and British POWs, whom Germans regarded as racial equals, Ukrainians were untermensch who could be used for medical experiments.
Not only did Demjanjuk survive, he managed to evade the Allied order, under Keelhaul, for all Red Army POWs to be repatriated to Stalin, which was the Soviet dictator’s demand before he would return the U.S. and British POWs his troops liberated in the march to Berlin.
In the war’s aftermath, Demjanjuk married his wife Vera, who had been conscripted in the Ukraine and brought forcibly west to work in the German economy.
Thence he moved to Cleveland, became an autoworker, raised a family and practiced his Christian faith. But he made a mistake.
He sent his wife to Ukraine to tell his aged mother that he had survived the war and was living in the great United States of America.
Word got around the village. The KGB came calling. Swiftly, the payments his mother had been receiving for her war hero son were halted, and suddenly, there turned up an ID card that said John Demjanjuk had been trained at Trawniki to be a Nazi camp guard.
The KGB began feeding OSI from its “files,” as OSI began a manic persecution of Demjanjuk that has lasted 30 years.
Stalin died in bed in 1953. Kaganovich died with his family around him in Moscow in 1991. And John Demjanjuk, 91, after spending five years on death row for a crime he did not commit in a place he never was, is stateless and homeless in a Germany where veterans of the SS walk free.
That is justice — in our world.
Rashid Khalidi: The Arab Spring
NOVANEWS
Suddenly, to be an Arab has become a good thing. People all over the Arab world feel a sense of pride in shaking off decades of cowed passivity under dictatorships that ruled with no deference to popular wishes.

A long article perhaps, and not one that people need to read, but an interpretation of the whole liberation movement sweeping the Arab world for those who have the time. At the same time it attempts to shift the discussion and perception of the subject from terms favored by Americans to terms favored by Arabs.
by Steve Beckow
The Arab Spring
Rashid Khalidi, The Nation, March 3, 2011,
Suddenly, to be an Arab has become a good thing. People all over the Arab world feel a sense of pride in shaking off decades of cowed passivity under dictatorships that ruled with no deference to popular wishes. And it has become respectable in the West as well. Egypt is now thought of as an exciting and progressive place; its people’s expressions of solidarity are welcomed by demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin; and its bright young activists are seen as models for a new kind of twenty-first-century mobilization.
Events in the Arab world are being covered by the Western media more extensively than ever before and are being talked about positively in a fashion that is unprecedented. Before, when anything Muslim or Middle Eastern or Arab was reported on, it was almost always with a heavy negative connotation. Now, during this Arab spring, this has ceased to be the case. An area that was a byword for political stagnation is witnessing a rapid transformation that has caught the attention of the world.
At best, war in Gaza and Lebanon will weaken pro-American regimes without destroying Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran or Syria. At worst, it will plunge the region into catastrophe.
Three things should be said about this sea change in perceptions about Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners:
The first is that it shows how superficial, and how false, were most Western media images of this region. Virtually all we heard about were the ubiquitous terrorists, the omnipresent bearded radicals and their veiled companions trying to impose Sharia and the corrupt, brutal despots who were the only option for control of such undesirables.
In US government-speak, faithfully repeated by the mainstream media, most of that corruption and brutality was airbrushed out through the use of mendacious terms like “moderates” (i.e., those who do and say what we want). That locution, and the one used to denigrate the people of the region, “the Arab street,” should now be permanently retired.
The second feature of this shift in perceptions is that it is very fragile. Even if all the Arab despots are overthrown, there is an enormous investment in the “us versus them” view of the region. This includes not only entire bureaucratic empires engaged in fighting the “war on terror,” not only the industries that supply this war and the battalions of contractors and consultants so generously rewarded for their services in it; it also includes a large ideological archipelago of faux expertise, with vast shoals of “terrorologists” deeply committed to propagating this caricature of the Middle East.
These talking heads who pass for experts have ceaselessly affirmed that terrorists and Islamists are the only thing to look for or see. They are the ones who systematically taught Americans not to see the real Arab world: the unions, those with a commitment to the rule of law, the tech-savvy young people, the feminists, the artists and intellectuals, those with a reasonable knowledge of Western culture and values, the ordinary people who simply want decent opportunities and a voice in how they are governed. The “experts” taught us instead that this was a fanatical people, a people without dignity, a people that deserved its terrible American-supported rulers. Those with power and influence who hold these borderline-racist views are not going to change them quickly, if at all: for proof, one needs only a brief exposure to the sewer that is Fox News.
Third, things could easily and very quickly change for the worse in the Arab world, and that could rapidly erode these tender new perceptions. Nothing has yet been resolved in any Arab country, not even in Tunisia or Egypt, where the despots are gone but a real transformation has barely begun. This is true even though both countries possess many of the prerequisites for a constitutional government, a mature democracy, economic progress and social justice—like a strong civil society, a history of labor organization, many highly educated people and some strong institutions. And despite the bravery of those who have been beaten, tear-gassed and shot while demanding change, even less has been transformed in other Arab countries. All of it could turn sour, whether through civil war in Libya or Yemen, paralysis in Tunisia and Egypt, or endless fruitless contestation with those in power in Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Iraq and elsewhere.
As people in the West learn more about this crucially important part of the world, there are a few more truths that should be transmitted. One is that this is not a region that is uniquely unsuited to democracy, or has no constitutional traditions or has always suffered under autocratic rulers. The Middle East has certainly suffered recently under a string of appalling regimes. But this is also a region where debates over how to limit the power of rulers led to sustained constitutional effervescence in Tunisia and Egypt in the late 1870s and to the establishment of a Constitution in the Ottoman Empire in 1876.
At that time the empire included not only today’s Turkey but most of the eastern Arab world, including Syria and Iraq. Later, in 1906, Iran established a constitutional regime. Later still, in the interwar period and afterward, the semi-independent and independent countries of the region were mainly governed by constitutional regimes. These were flawed experiments that faced massive obstacles in the form of entrenched interests, the autocratic proclivities of rulers, and massive illiteracy and poverty. Still, the failures to establish sustained constitutional and parliamentary regimes were not due solely to those factors.
These governments were systematically undermined by the imperialist great powers, whose ambitions and interests were often obstructed by parliaments, nascent public opinion and a press that insisted on national sovereignty and a fair share of their own resources. From the European powers’ undermining of the Iranian and Ottoman constitutional governments in the first decades of the twentieth century, to America’s interference in Lebanon and Syria and overthrow of the Iranian government in the 1950s, the pattern was continually repeated. The Western powers not only gave little or no support to democratic rule in the Middle East; they often actively undermined it, preferring to deal with pliable autocrats who did their bidding. In other words, the pattern of Western support for easily manipulated dictatorial regimes is by no means a new one.
Much has been said in recent weeks about the potential of applying the “Turkish model” to the Arab world. In fact, Turkey and the Arab states came to their understanding of modernity—and with it of constitutions, democracy, and human, civil and political rights—through a shared late Ottoman past. This era, from the 1860s until 1918, shaped the understanding of these concepts for their peoples, although both Turkish and Arab nationalists have fiercely denied any Ottoman impact on their modern nation-states. Today Turkey does provide a model of how to reconcile a powerful military establishment with democracy, and a secular system with a religious orientation among much of the populace. It also serves as a model of economic success, of a workable cultural synthesis between East and West, and of how to exert influence on the world stage. In all these respects, it is perceived as a more attractive model than what is widely seen in the Arab world as a failed alternative: the thirty-two-year-old Iranian theocratic system.
The Arab states have a long way to go to undo the terrible legacy of repression and stagnation and move toward democracy, the rule of law, social justice and dignity, which have been the universal demands of their peoples during this Arab spring. The term “dignity” involves a dual demand: first, for the dignity of the individual in the face of rulers who treat their subjects as without rights and beneath contempt. But there is also a demand for the collective dignity of proud states like Egypt, and of the Arabs as a people. This was the demand that nationalist leaders rode to power starting in the 1950s, as they targeted colonialism and neocolonialism. After that generation’s failures, they were replaced by dictators who provided the “stability” so prized by the West—stability purchased at the price of the dignity of the individual and the collective. It is this humiliation, by repressive rulers and vis-à-vis the outside world, that demonstrators from Rabat to Manama seek to eliminate. So far they have focused almost entirely on the root causes of their problems, which are largely internal. There has been little or no emphasis on foreign policy, no visible anti-Western feeling and limited mention of Israel or Palestine.
There is great peril in ignoring this demand for collective dignity, whether it relates to the patronizing way the United States has long treated the region or the casual dismissal of the beliefs of most Arabs that justice has not been and is not being done to the Palestinians. If the people of the Arab world are fortunate in achieving democratic transitions, and can begin to confront the many deep problems their societies face, it is vital that a new Arab world, born of a struggle for freedom, social justice and dignity, be treated with the respect it deserves, and that for the first time in decades it is beginning to earn.
Rashid Khalidi
Ghost Troop: The Art of Info-War
NOVANEWS
Preface: Strong and gratifying interest in Ghost Troop, the mostly unreported cybercavalry unit, can only be adequately answered by a reprint of the bold interview published by the lion of Texas newspapers, The Lone Star Iconoclast. It is without alteration except for an endnote and personal note from CFR geostrategist, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik, whom broadcaster Alex Jones credits with creatingInfowars psychological operations.
Originally from Monday, August 14, 2006 by W. Leon Smith, Iconoclast Publisher
An Interview With Captain Eric H. May, Ghost Troop CO; and Kay Lucas, Director, Crawford Peace House
A martial arts expert, Captain May illustrates some moves with his fighting staff. — Iconoclast Photo By W. Leon Smith
CRAWFORD — What began as a unique way to acknowledge and honor the fallen soldiers in the Battle of Baghdad has evolved into an independent military movement aimed at fighting governmental propaganda — a/k/a info-war. Commanded by Captain Eric H. May, Ghost Troop consists of current and past high-level military professionals who claim expertise at reading governmental strategies and predicting what will happen next.
Cracking embedded codes plays a significant role, says Captain May, as does utilizing a highly sophisticated network of intelligence operatives and analyzing events that perhaps have a hidden agenda.
Last week, politics were heavy in Crawford — President Bush was at his Prairie Chapel ranch concerned with what many have suggested are the first phases of World War III — perhaps even the Apocalypse — with battles raging between Lebanon and Israel, while, nearer to Crawford, new McLennan County property owner Cindy Sheehan was, with the construction of Camp Casey III, beginning a sequel to last August’s 26-day vigil that ended with an unsuccessful quest to talk with Bush and learn first-hand “what noble cause” her son, Casey, died for in Iraq in 2004.
During a blistering 104-degree afternoon, The Crawford Peace House was like Grand Central Station, with peace proponents coming and going, planning events for the week, and working out the details, as loads of coal made their way down the nearby railroad tracks.
Iconoclast publisher W. Leon Smith spent about two hours on the lawn of The Peace House, learning about Ghost Troop’s uncanny success in its predictions, the history of the troop, and how it operates. He interviewed Captain May and Kay Lucas, who is in charge of the day-to-day operations of The Peace House.
Lucas, a charter member of The Peace House, pointed out, prior to the interview session, that she was speaking as an individual and not necessarily on behalf of The Peace House. She said, “I’m 63, I’m a grandmother. The reason I got involved in this is because I’m concerned about my granddaughters. I live near Moody, out in the country. I’ve lived here 5½ years. I moved here from Nevada in 2000. My husband wanted to come back to Texas.”
She says she is originally from the Texas Gulf Coast, having grown up “down there in the petro-chemical swamp.”
She has a varied background, from horticulture to journalism to graphic design.
“I’ve been a mule tender and all kinds of things,” she added.
Captain May is a military man from top to bottom, and a most irregular addition to the Peace House, although his Crawford credentials go back to 2003, when he and Kay Lucas met.
A martial artist as well as an intellectual, Captain May whiles away spare moments in the shade of a garden by effortlessly spinning a fighting staff like an airplane propeller. He is a former Texas state champion with the weapon. His hands are calloused from knuckle push-ups and brick-breaking exercises.
Born in Houston, he was a high-school leader at Smiley High School before he began his Army service under President Carter. All-American with attitude, he served as school president, editor of the school paper, and chairman of the Honors Society.
“The Army was my Harvard and my Yale,” he says, “and there’s little I’ve done since my first enlistment that hasn’t come from what I learned there.”
The interview:
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ICONOCLAST: How was Ghost Troop organized and what is your background relating to the info-war theater of battle?
CAPT. MAY: April 4th, 2003, Friday night. I’d just finished teaching a Tai-Kwon-Do class. I’m a black belt. I teach.
When I came back, it was early Saturday morning, April 5th in Baghdad, and I was watching the CNN war. We had just surrounded Baghdad.
The Battle of Baghdad started that night when the 3/7 Cavalry was engaged by Iraqi forces at the Baghdad airport. I immediately knew they had covered up. There are 20 different indicators I put on the introduction of my website of why I knew it was being covered up, all of which I picked up as you would in your own area expertise if you knew something was being covered up. The biggest clue was Jessica Lynch. The media covered up the biggest U.S. battle in decades by contriving a human interest story. The Jessica Lynch story lasted until the Army had taken Baghdad and they were ready to pull down the statue of Saddam. It was a total propaganda job.
For the next two weeks I started taking up collections for these boys who had died taking Baghdad for Bush. Everybody acknowledged that we had taken Baghdad. Everybody knew that Baghdad had fallen. So I went out to the students at the University of Houston Honors College, where I had gone to college, and took up a collection for those taking Baghdad.
I discovered in 40 hours of taking up collections that they had given me $20 — these were those pampered kids in Houston. And to them, there was no Battle of Baghdad at all – since it wasn’t reported – let alone a tragedy of the 3/7 Cavalry. The media washed any thought of an Iraqi attack at the Baghdad airport away by saying that it was all a pack of lies told by “Baghdad Bob,” then shifted us to Jessica Lynch. No U.S. deaths were acknowledged, and I realize that that had been the propaganda objective. We weren’t functioning like a republic any more.
So I took a thousand mile bike ride to Ft. Stewart to confirm the battle. When I got there, after three weeks of riding, Ft. Stewart officials told me that there was a cover up, and then I knew that the Constitution was in the tank. This was a big war, they explained to me. They were going to control what we see, feel, and do, in that order, and if anybody got out of line they’d get whacked. That’s what they told me very early on. So I came home to think it over. When July of 2003 came around, national leaders looked like they were starting to get tired of this war. Bush had us in another Vietnam. Everybody who was informed could see that by the summer of 2003. That’s when they started getting desperate, doing the heavy-handed tactics in Iraq, because they were losing control.
I didn’t have a clue about 911 then, just that propaganda was reigning and vital information affecting the conduct of the war was not reaching the public, and that is illegal according to what I had been taught as a public affairs officer. I decided I had to act, and had to have some way of explaining that I was doing this out of a military sense of duty.
I figured that since my background was as a captain, I’d be a unit commander and would take up the 3/7 Cavalry since they had been wiped out and covered up. There were six troops – military units – in the 3/7 Cavalry: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot. I decided to form a seventh troop, made up of all the ghosts who died in the 3/7th Cavalry at Baghdad Airport, who weren’t receiving Christian honor or recognition who died doing their duty for their country.
So that became Ghost Troop, 3/7 Cavalry. After a while it became apparent that we would operate via the Internet to wage informational warfare for our country, so we later became Ghost Troop 3/7 Cyber-Cavalry.
ICONOCLAST: What about the “info” part of that? Do you have experience in the military?
CAPT. MAY: I went into the military in 1977 as a boy soldier, and became a boy scholar by learning a lot about politics and history in the Army. This was right down the road from Crawford at Ft. Hood, where I was with the 1st Cavalry Division for three years – which is where I got this 1st Cavalry belt buckle that I’ve worn since forming Ghost Troop to honor the covered up dead of the 3/7 Cavalry. I was chemical corps in that first of my military tours, so I have nuclear-bio chemical warfare expertise. I entered the University of Houston in 1980, where I received a first-rate classics education studying Latin and Greek classics. I was commissioned in 1983 and after graduation in 1985, I began a career in military intelligence, with a special background in Russian. After that, I worked five years with opposing forces scenarios doing high level war-games, exercises like you’re hearing about all over the country nowadays.
After my active duty military intelligence years, I started programs in Latin, Russian and Greek at a Houston Catholic school, Mount Carmel High, and received some public recognition. I was teacher of the year in 1991. Editors began to ask for and publish my education essays. This opened new doors for me, and I started publishing regular op-eds for the Houston Post and Houston Chronicle. My reserve unit sent me to public affairs school, and I became the division’s public affairs officer. After my Army and teaching days ended in the 1990s, I became an NBC editorial writer for a couple of years for Houston’s KPRC, as well as a ghost writer for some of the top political and industry leaders. I did a bit of writing for Ken Lay, and then there’s George W. Bush, since I interviewed with Karen Hughes, his media director, to become his speech writer back in 1996, when he was governor of Texas.
So info-war for me was simply a matter of understanding that all the powers of information and propaganda that I learned in years of information and intelligence specialties had been pulled into one coherent force for evil, to deceive the American people. The dark side had taken over.
Whereas I was a WMD expert, I discovered that WMD was a contrivance to justify war.
Whereas I was an intelligence expert, I discovered that bad intelligence had been adopted as if it were good intelligence just because it was a good mask for a bad war plan.
And whereas I was a public affairs expert, I discovered that public affairs had become psychological operations, not seeking to inform but to mislead the public.
So we weren’t involved in the doctrinal purpose of public affairs, which is giving correct information to the sovereign American people. We were involved in psychological operations intended to distort reality to break the will of an enemy population – which just happened to be the American people! So every level of my background allowed me to see just how deeply engaged that the Bush Administration had become in distorting the war and manipulating the people.
ICONOCLAST: What do you see as the importance of Ghost Troop?
CAPT. MAY: At our core, we have stood for the dignity of dead men’s souls, and maintained the honor of a dishonored Army. We stood for the honor of our nation when the nation was shitting on its own graves by denying its war dead. That’s really where it starts. Kay (Lucas) remembers seeing me here, at the Peace House, for the first time. I came to Crawford when Bush was in town back in August of 2003, and sat there at the burger joint with a protest sign about Baghdad, one man in my dress blues. I just wanted to see if they would kill me for trying to blow the whistle on the Battle of Baghdad cover up, because I was so mad at them. I figured it was dangerous, since Bush was in Crawford for his summer break then, as he is now, and the Bush administration has a reputation for being Mafioso. But I was so angry that I didn’t care. I didn’t get bushwhacked – all I got was a criminal trespass citation and a threat of jail. Kay and some of the other Peace House folks were afraid that my luck might not hold, so she made me leave town after a couple of days.
The only thing that kept me going, for the whole first year of the info-war, was outrage — outrage at what they had done to cover up the people who died at Baghdad and then to shut up their families, their widows and orphans back in the United States.
So the first mission of Ghost Troop was simply to defend the honor of the military and the honor of the country which had betrayed its pact of honor to the military.
The second mission is even bigger: exposing the 911 cabal, which a lot of people do as well as we do, probably better than we do. There’s an energized 911 Truth community that is getting the word out that we were set up by a treasonous war plan that culminated in the attacks of five years ago.
Our third mission is our most important – and is our specialty – 911-2B. Simply put, 911-2B is our mission code for predicting where the next 911 is going “to be” (therefore, 911-2B). After all, the corporate media tells us constantly that another 911 is going “to be,” it’s not a matter of if it’s going “to be,” but when it’s going “to be!”
If you want to know where Ghost Troop has become important, it’s because Ghost Troop learned how to fight info-war with BOBCUP – the Battle of Baghdad Cover-up – and all our experience paid off with 911-2B. My claim is simple, and Kay can tell you if it’s true or not. Sir, if Ghost Troop had not been working Mission 911-2B, World War III would have started by now.
Captain Eric May and Kay Lucas chat during an interview with The Iconoclast. — Iconoclast Photo By W. Leon Smith
LUCAS: I think you are probably right, although I think World War III has started or they are trying to start it. When he first came here, I could see that he was totally outraged, brimming over with anger and rage. I was just in awe of his intelligence and like I told him then, we are a mission of peace and it’s totally opposite of anything military. Military minds, to me, have been programmed to kill. That’s their sole purpose, to kill. And so that is not what we’re about. But I could see the potential that he was so outraged at his government that there was a possibility, at some point, that, hopefully, that peace was the only security. You cannot stop violence with violence, it just does not work. We’ve had too many wiser men and teachers, women too, than me to tell about it, and it’s just obvious to me.
CAPT. MAY: That’s a perennial debate in Ghost Troop.
LUCAS: And that’s been our perennial debate.
CAPT. MAY: I’m info-war and she is peace. But she is a Ghost Troop sergeant, and has been since I brought Ghost Troop to Crawford three years ago.
LUCAS: I understand about information, and I understand about manipulating and controlling it.
CAPT. MAY: You know this, if we hadn’t run the Ghost Troop mission, they would have popped 911-2B for sure.
LUCAS: But the thing is, is that what you are doing is saving lives, not taking lives, but using the tactics of the military, especially the information part of the military. To me it’s a wonderful use of taking that program and using it in a peaceful way.
CAPT. MAY: So 911-2B is undoubtedly our most important mission. Ghost Troop is the only coherent force in America directly putting itself between the Bush league and the 911-2B event. We’re defending the public just as surely as — do you remember Leonidas and the Spartans at the pass of Thermopylae? Do you know what Ghost Troop’s job is? To be the Spartans. There are 300 Ghost Troops just like there were 300 Spartans, and our job is simply to plug up that place, Thermopylae — that place that is so narrow that they have to get through there. 911-2B is our modern-day Thermopylae They have to come through us to get America. It’s that simple. They have to come through us. We work to prevent them, and God knows, with the number of people who are connected to Ghost Troop or are trying to get into Ghost Troop, we must be onto something.
ICONOCLAST: How do the activities and itineraries of Ghost Troop differ from those of other groups, such as Cindy Sheehan’s and those of the Crawford Peace House? Are yours and theirs simply different pieces of a larger puzzle or are they part of the same pieces?
CAPT. MAY: I would say that they are a larger category, more acceptable to the public.
The largest circle, of the concentric puzzle, is going to be the peace movement, like Cindy Sheehan who travels around and enhances the broad popular sentiment that has already developed against the war. A smaller circle is the anti-war movement, which becomes a more focused attack on the war. I think Cindy is still part of that. I think the Crawford Peace House is really peace/anti-war. Ever since I came to Camp Casey back when Cindy Sheehan left it for a while back in August, 2005, I’ve had a secret guilt about the place. Casey Sheehan was killed on April 4, 2004, a year after I picked up the Battle of Baghdad cover up. I imagine he and his comrades didn’t have a clue that the Iraqi Resistance might be more intense on the anniversary of that battle, because the Army was covering up reality even from the field commanders. If his commanders had been told that there was an anniversary date coming up, they would have been looking out better, and Casey might still be alive. Had Ghost Troop been able to do its mission of exposing that cover up better, he might have lived. It’s the kind of thinking that troubles anyone who has made decisions that affect lives, me included.
Within the peace circle and the antiwar circle there’s a smaller circle still, and that’s those who are waging info-war. Bush administration supporters call us a fifth column, although they prefer to avoid talking about us altogether. Infowarriors are rare, but you’ll find a few of us out here, in places like Crawford and Camp Casey. We’re people who are absolutely hip to 911 and we start with that. We are aware that there’s a war to get the truth out, and that the job of the Bush media is to suppress that truth, not help it along. Ghost Troop is the spearhead unit of the infowar, just like the 3/7 Cavalry was the spearhead unit for the attack on Iraq. Ours is a professionals’ war, an information aficionado’s war. We work with each other through the Internet. We’re like long-range reconnaissance patrols, each of us with a computer instead of a radio.
You know, when I named Ghost Troop “cyber-cavalry” that designation shaped our infowar tactics in the same way that the designation of “air cavalry” shaped the way that cavalry fought in Vietnam. Any cavalry unit’s job is two things: scouting and raids. Ghost Troop is constantly scouting by staying connected to this network of listening outposts called computers, manned by our people or our info-war allies, providing us with key information. They serve the same purpose in this pending world war that ham radio operators served in the last world war, or that telegraph operators served in the world war before that. When we’re in our scouting mode, we stay in touch with each other, exchange intelligence and analyze phenomena. Once we’ve detected something dangerous to the American people, we go into our raiding mode – which in our case means we initiate a public relations blitz with e-mails, articles and interviews to alert the American people to dangers.
In our scouting capacity, we’re a military intelligence unit; in our raiding capacity, we’re a public affairs unit. Those are my two Army officer specialties, and I’ve made them our two unit specialties – another case of falling back on my military training. We very much use military concepts. Ghost Troop is an organized info-war force. It’s a citizens’ militia comprised of dedicated activists, and led by professional leaders. We’ve got officers all the way across Ghost Troop, an Air Force captain from the Korean conflict, a Marine Corps captain who was a 911 witness, a sergeant major who flew air cavalry missions in Vietnam, to name just a few. We have many members who took an oath to defend America against domestic enemies who are living up to their oath by serving with us, including active duty military and police. We even have religious ministers. We’re an unusual anti-war group!
LUCAS: The Crawford Peace House is mainly about learning how to discover that peace is possible, since we’ve all been programmed to believe that war is inevitable, and that it’s always been and always will be. We don’t really believe that. I don’t personally believe that myself. I believe that once mankind’s consciousness opens up enough to believe that peace is possible, that people will want it so badly that nothing will stop it. And there will come a time when enough people who want that, that it will just happen. It can’t be stopped. It’s an energy thing. When it gets out there enough that enough people believe that this is possible and they want it so badly, then it will happen. Our leaders will not be able to have war unless they want to have their own wars between the leaders. If they want to fight, let them fight with each other.
ICONOCLAST: With Ghost Troop informants throughout the world, how is information distilled as credible?
CAPT. MAY: We have three years of experience that has been proved correct, so our work pretty much stands for itself nowadays. We have a reputation in our community for integrity. We’re never working an angle; we’re never pushing an agenda. We’re after the truth, pure and simple. It’s our job to give timely intelligence to our commanders – the American people. Everybody working in the current information system to deceive the American people hates us – and there is no greater mark of integrity than to be detested by them. There’s no one who works with us, there’s no one who likes us. Well, almost no one. For the most part we have no official government or media connections, and that gives us balance and integrity. We can occasionally be wrong, but we can never be crooked. If something is wrong, it doesn’t stay wrong for long. We constantly refine and perfect our process. We’ve been doing info-war a long time. Essentially, I started my info-war the day the troops got to Baghdad. But at this point, like every soldier in every war in history, I’ve gotten better and better with every day of operations, and so has Ghost Troop.
Ghost Troop couldn’t have done what it does now, at first. But now, we’ve gotten to the point that we are sure of our intelligence product because of our collection of top experts in Ghost Troop. It comes down to the integrity of the individuals who make up the inner cell of Ghost Troop, and there are others who are willing to jump into the front line if need be. We have several Ghost Troop members who are experts in their fields. Right now there are 200 people in the actual operational unit and about 150 in our various inquests.
Ghost Troup is really an analytic group. As a trained intelligence officer I serve as the chief analyst. As a trained public affairs officer I serve as the unit spokesman. What I put out is the distilled intelligence product of many Ghost Troops. They send me the reports and sometimes I do a little back-and-forth with them. They keep me informed,and I polish my ideas and Ghost Troop analysis with top experts in the field, sometimes across many countries and several continents.
Ghost Troop takes no money. I make no money, and, basically have lost all I had fighting the info-war. With something like Ghost Troop, once you start taking money, you no longer have intellectual integrity.
ICONOCLAST: Your published reports have indicated that behind-the-scenes strategies by various agencies of governments often utilize a code, such as with dates, that is based on numerics and that Ghost Troop has been able to dissect and identify many of these codes, which provides an ability to predict possibilities and probabilities of future problems based to a degree on information that some members of the mainstream media are putting out, either in written or broadcast format. Do you feel that there is a marriage of these elements?
CAPT. MAY: I am a conspiracy theorist, period, since my theory is that there has been a conspiracy to lead us to what I call a quicksand war in the Middle East. Virtually anything I read from anywhere nowadays says that there has been a conspiracy to lead us to, and keep us in, a disastrous war. To say that there has not been a conspiracy is to be a Bush apologist and nothing more. Clearly, there has been a conspiracy.
What we analyze is the “embedded code.” That’s our word for it, and its use is one of the key features of the war conspiracy that did 911 and put us in the quicksand of Iraq. The Bush administration is made up secret society members – Illuminati, mostly – who use a secret code such as those used by all secret societies. Sometimes its mere verbal trickery. For instance, the pending world war that they cleverly said was a “global war” is a perfect example of a subtle code. When they said “global war” they meant “world war,” and they all knew to decode the obscure phrase in their minds – but the American people didn’t. Had they told us that their global war was a code-name for a world war, we would have immediately impeached them! In reality, this is a millennial war by secret societies. They do use a code and it does tie their conspiracy together. They signal by the public means, which is called media. But media is really, in the Ghost Troop model, merely a part of the propaganda apparatus. When it named itself “embedded” before the Iraq war, it was really sending a coded acknowledgement that it would be embedded with code. The phrase “embedded media” simply means “coded media” to insiders. It’s the same in the pending world war as it was in the last world war, with broadcast and print carrying hidden messages and the public not knowing it.
ICONOCLAST: Is there more than one type of code?
CAPT. MAY: Yeah. The one we like to follow is numeric, but there is certainly an idiographic, or ideas code. Incidentally, this area in the military intelligence code is called cryptanalysis, from the words crypto in Greek, meaning secret, and analysis, meaning examination. The key thing for us is that we very seldom start with a code when we are predicting future events. We usually start with geopolitics and current events. The code is a thing that, if it falls into place, greatly enhances the scenario, There are often numeric confirmations of our predictions, and that strengthens them.
ICONOCLAST: Are these secret groups sitting there saying, “Okay, we have to match this event to a code to be able to go through with it?”
CAPT. MAY: There are natural cycles with the code. For instance, the Illuminati are freaks for master numbers, 11, 22, and 33. There’s a cycle that leads up to certain pivotal dates, like the most recent for us was 8-8, which was a really 8-8-8 since the year numbers of 2006 add up to a hidden 8. People say “it couldn’t be true,” but they’re not remembering that coding has already been proven true. Last year it was the 7-7 London bombings, which were really 7-7-7, since the year numbers add up to 7. It’s obvious that someone – whether you think it’s the government as we do or al Qaeda as the government wants you to – is using number/date codes. The coded event that opened my eyes was the Madrid bombing of 3/11/2004. Lots of military intelligence folks picked up on the “coincidences” of Madrid. The first was that 9/11 and 3/11 are “harmonics” of the same numbers, with the 11’s matching and the 9 and 3 being the square and square root of each other. The second was that there were exactly 911 days between the two events! The odds against that kind of “coincidence” are astronomical, and most of the other “terror” events carry the same coding. In addition to the 9/11 and 3/11 attacks, we had a 7/7 London attack in 2005 and a 7/11 Mumbai attack a year later. The two events could be numerically represented as “77″ and 7 x 11 (which equals 77). We’ve even had a 9/11 backwards with the 11/9 bombing of Amman, Jordan in 2005. The embedded code runs through all these events, and the media occasionally mentions that there seems to be some kind of “al Qaeda code,” although they never investigate that code, as it would lead back to the Bush administration.
Their use of these codes allows them to time what they are going to do, and coordinate the people who are going to do it. They are not random codes. There are only so many permutations that are going to carry the kind of numeric signal they want. And to them, I very much think they consider those sacred days, holy days, good luck days, whatever kind of day.
LUCAS: Power days.
CAPT. MAY: Yes. Power days. It means that everybody who’s in on it, from the accountant at the bank, to the cop on the beat, all the way to the people calling the shots out at the Pentagon in D.C., all of them share in common that they are days of importance for great projects that are central to the New World Order. And then they use psychological manipulation to make it happen.
LUCAS: There was a famous philosopher who said that this is the very first thing that would start happening, and that people’s minds would be manipulated and we would not even know it, not even be aware of it. That’s what Madison Avenue is about. To sell products, it’s to manipulate the mind. It stands to reason, so why in the world wouldn’t someone use it? It’s the corporate structure.
CAPT. MAY: We call it breaking the embedded code. The Madrid bombings, when it turned out there are 911 days between 9/11 and 3/11. That’s when we started to break the code. That’s when we did the first Texas City mission, with the premise that the administration would turn to the Houston Metro area, which they control utterly, for the 911-2B attack. Kay, you remember when we broke the code, and we said there would be a Houston petro-chemical attack on 3/31/2004. It turned out to be Texas City, 3/30/2004, and British Petroleum exploded, driving gasoline prices to the highest levels in history. At that point we didn’t know we had broken an elaborate code. We figured we had just run a single mission where the numbers added up. We didn’t realize there was an ongoing code. At this point 2½ years further along the road? Shucks, I don’t even have to prove there’s a code anymore, do I — 7/11, 3/11, 9/11, 7/7. The code is an unmistakable feature.
Every facet of mind control that can be exerted through the mass media is exerted by the mass media. The code is what simply came to me first, since I had Latin, and Greek, Russian, Spanish, a bit of Korean, and grew up talking Ebonics in a black high school — I have a real high language IQ — in fact, I used to have the highest language IQ in the Army, or did when I took the IQ test, scoring 156 out of 160, the equivalent of a 1560 SAT test. To me, the code is just language. I taught four or five different grammars, I know four or five different vocabularies, I know idioms — code is a number language.
ICONOCLAST: By exposing elements such as possible terror dates and pointing out activities in the works based on your own Intel, do you think shining a light helps to scramble or delay some of the plans?
CAPT. MAY: (to Kay Lucas) How many times do you think we have prevented the 911-2B attack?
LUCAS: I think it’s been done, I surely do. Some might call me crazy, some of the people around here that don’t subscribe to any of this, and that’s their choice, but as far as I’m concerned, I do believe that. The more light you shine on something, the less darkness there will be.
CAPT. MAY: You see, Kay’s been in on every interdiction we’ve done, and we count eight of them at present – and hope to expose what’s happening so we won’t have to interdict any more.
ICONOCLAST: How would you define a false flag?
CAPT. MAY: “False flag” goes right along with “going live” as two key terms for our work. All the terror being done to further the war is being done under cover of military exercises. That goes back to the 9/11 event, which has been the most documented. The first term to make clear is what it means when an exercise “goes live.” An exercise goes live when the scenario that it is rehearsing suddenly occurs and the people involved in the exercise react to it by doing what they were training to do in the exercise. A “false flag” is simply when you carry out an attack and blame it on somebody else to lead your country to war against them.
LUCAS: Which has been done numerous times by various countries.
ICONOCLAST: You have said that you already have informants imbedded in various governmental and corporate entities. Are you seeking to expand upon these?
CAPT. MAY: At all times. Ghost Troop is a patriotic group and it’s the duty of everybody who can help to meet up with us. We receive, we don’t recruit. Our work is our recruiting poster, and motivated people are constantly seeking out and joining us. Some of the most prominent people in the 911 Truth Movement, for example, are Ghost Troops. We had a U.S. ambassador in the unit as chaplain for the first three years.
ICONOCLAST: What advice would you give to the general public when they are watching details of the latest terror threat on TV or when they read about it in newspapers? Should they accept what is being said, or should they look upon it with cynicism?
CAPT. MAY: The latter. Cynicism at all times. In times when we are dealing with a dictatorship set up by a 9/11 false flag attack, healthy skepticism has failed. You need cynicism. To show you how cynical I mean, when we who are informed have talk about al Qaeda, ever since the first year, we say Al-CIA-Duh. Anyone who doesn’t understand that much is still playing in the minor leagues and doesn’t understand info-war.
LUCAS: The CIA created Osama bin Laden. Our government has been implicated in so many of those operations using foreign or other branches of the government in other places in the world to instigate operations that can be used to justify wars or attacks. I would say to anybody, any authority figure that’s using fear to control or manipulate you. Anytime that fear is used, start questioning it. When someone is trying to scare me, it’s like saying the boogey man is going to get you if you go out in your yard when you are a little kid, it’s a way to manipulate. Healthy respect of snakes, for instance — it’s healthy to respect them for what they are and who they are and what they can do. But when you fear something, you lose all of your facilities of reason, because fear just blanks out the mind to common sense.
CAPT. MAY: Anytime there’s a terror report or terror incident now, I automatically suppose it’s the government trying to manipulate us into hating Muslims. How many times has it happened that the Bush people get put up against the wall by their mistakes and abuses, then some kind of al Qaeda boogeyman pops up out of the box? When people say, “That’s kind of cynical,” I can only tell you that if we had had that kind of cynicism years ago, our nation would be far better off today. Times may finally be changing, though, since apparently, co-chairmen of the 911 commission, Hamilton and Kean, have had a bit of cynicism affecting them. They’ve just published a book saying that 911 happened since we were too closely linked to Israel, and that military officers who reported the Pennsylvania Flight 93 details to them were covering up and lying in unison. Their cynicism would be labeled “conspiracy theory” if they weren’t the very men leading the 911 Commission. Given the current manipulated media, cynicism is simply objectivity, and conspiracy theory is just open-mindedness.
LUCAS: When the government lies to you one time after another after another, it becomes crucial that cynicism get mixed in with looking at what’s happening in the news.
CAPT. MAY: It’s our national character. The thing that’s amazing to Ghost Troop is that we sometimes are accused of being traitors or disloyal, when we are all risking our lives by being loyal to the fundamental principles of America. There’s nothing we are really saying that would have seemed radical to Thomas Paine. The idea that government could seek to carry out crimes against its own citizens to achieve self-motivated results is an old one. America started with the belief that the government was dangerous for just that reason. The thing that people who committed treason against us by doing 911 have forgotten – and I think to their own peril – is that the foundational document of America is not a malleable Constitution at all. The foundational document of America is a Declaration.
LUCAS: The Declaration of Independence.
CAPT. MAY: If they want to knock down the walls of the Constitution, they do so at their own peril, sir, because the Declaration is the bedrock of America. Trying to have tyranny over the American citizens is like herding cats, not herding cattle. It’s going to backfire. It has to backfire. I’m quoting a radical, Thomas Jefferson, to support that idea. It is inevitable. This is a grand cycle that has come about. It’s come to the point now that it’s going to engage the grand sentiments of American democracy. Right now, through the 911 treason, American democracy is at war with the American oligarchy. In fact, given that you have a guy named George who inherited the job from his father, you might say American democracy is at war with American monarchy.
LUCAS: They are related.
CAPT. MAY: We have a dual monarchy. They’re tying to set up a dynastic rule. What are they trying to do? Uh, Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton? I mean, (laughs) it goes right up there with John Kerry and George Bush being Skull and Bones cult brothers when they went into the 2004 elections, and Daddy Bush being a Skull and Bones cult brother before that. Their secret connections are becoming apparent, even though the media is purposely downplaying or omitting them.
ICONOCLAST: How would you sum up your involvement in Ghost Troop.
Captain Eric H. May, Commanding Officer, Ghost Troop — Iconoclast Photo By W. Leon Smith
CAPT. MAY: Ghost Troop members look at it this way. It’s a mission of conscience. You do it because you have to do it, not because you want to do it. I’ve tried to get out of the mission, but couldn’t. My wife and I have both been death-threatened, repeatedly, because of the mission. After Bush was returned to power in the 2004 elections, I went to a Jesuit priest, with whom I counseled for months, trying to find a reason to escape the mission. I found to my surprise, though, that he believed I should stay with it, no matter what it cost me. Still, I dropped out of the info-war for six months, then only returned after the London 7/7 bombings made it obvious to me that there would soon be another attack against the U.S., and I had to dedicate myself and my unit, Ghost Troop, to stopping it. The Jesuits baptized me after I made that decision, figuring that I might not come out of the mission alive. Like anyone who has ever taken a mission, though, I’ve learned not to think about it too much. Still, I keep the emergency baptismal certificate framed as a sign of where things have gone with our country. It’s a sad time when telling the truth is risking your life.
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Third Intifada Launched in Tahrir Square While US Peace Envoy Quits
NOVANEWS
“May be the Arab-Israeli conflict doesn’t need any more US special envoy, may be president Obama shouldn’t bother appointing a replacement, for, as far as the Palestinians are concerned, they had enough of this backstage Zionist-manipulated politics disguised as peace envoys”
Dr. Ashraf Ezzat
It is hard to believe that those are the same people who were on the verge of being torn apart by the deadly sectarian violence just a few days ago. It is hard to imagine those are the same people who are yet struggling out of a revolution that weighed down heavily on their economy and security.
How could they, in just few days, grow out of their grief and overcome the dreadful shadow of civil war. How could they easily wipe the tears, put out the fire that meant to engulf the whole country and instead put on a smile, hold hands and head for Tahrir square once again.
How could the people of Egypt, while preoccupied and deeply engaged in sorting out the post-Mubarak mess, find the time, or better yet the drive to show solidarity to their Palestinian brethren?
We can only understand this through a historical perspective. Only a people who go back thousands of years and who have been exposed to all sorts of experiences and historical episodes could come up with this remarkable construct of resilience.
Calls for third intifada from Cairo and Tel Aviv
Knesset member, Hanin Zoabi.
With the dawn break of Friday, May 13th, the prefixed date for Egyptian masses to support the Palestinian cause, thousands rallied in Tahrir square calling for national unity between Muslims and Christians and at the same time showing their everlasting solidarity for the Palestinians and their legitimate struggle to liberate their homeland from the Israeli occupation.
According to a facebook page created by Arab and Palestinian activists, these Friday rallies at the Cairo’s iconic square are meant to, not only revive the popular support for the Palestinian cause but to officially launch Egyptian mass rallies toward Gaza, in a move that would encourage Palestinians in return to take to the streets and start their third intifada.
This call for a third intifada comes at a critical time the wind of change is storming the whole Arab world. And since Israel has been deliberately inserted inside the heart of that world, it will be hard for the politicians in Tel Aviv not to feel the mighty daft.
As a matter of fact the call for a third intifada has been resonating inside Israel itself and specifically from the Israeli Knesset as Hanin Zoabi, a member of the Knesset representing the Balad party called for a third intifada against Israel.
Zoabi, the first Arab woman to be a Knesset member, recommended the Palestinian intifada would be fashioned after the Egyptian Tahrir square peaceful protests which she added should be the model for all the Arab youth.
George Mitchell
And in response to Zoabi’s call, other knesset members said she should be stripped of her parliamentary immunity and put on trial for calling for rebellion.
But while charges of inciting rebellion could be filed against Hanin zoabi for her support for a nonviolent third intifada aimed at ending the brutal siege on Gaza, defiant statements by Avigdor Leiberman, Israel’s foreign minister, declaring that Israel will not entertain any new building freezes and will not consider more peace negotiations with the new Palestinian coalition pass uncommented upon.
But again, the timing of this call for a third intifada comes on the same day George Mitchell, the Obama administration’s special Middle East peace envoy, plans to resign after more than two unsuccessful years of trying to press Israel and the Palestinians into negotiations.
We have to admit that political endeavors to see an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have utterly failed and may be that what Mitchell’s resignation is trying to say.
The only thing that the American-brokered so called peace talks did is buy more time for Israel to grab more Arabic land and create a hard to change or negotiate reality on the ground.
But more wasted time is a luxury Palestinians cannot afford.
May be the Arab-Israeli conflict doesn’t need any more US special envoy, may be president Obama shouldn’t bother appointing a replacement, for, as far as the Palestinians are concerned, they had enough of this backstage Zionist-manipulated politics disguised as peace envoys.
And may be what the whole Middle East conflict needs right now is a new kind of politics, the politics of the street, the kind that is driven by the power of the people.
In fact, it could very well be the third intifada, that we need.
Zio-Nazi's Defy Nakba Law
NOVANEWS
On the 63rd Zio-Nazi Holocaust in Palestine I
At the end of March, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) passed the Nakba Law. The version that passed the third reading states that any body that receives government funding, such as schools, can be fined for commemorating the Nakba on the Israeli Day of Independence. The Nakba means “Catastrophe” in Arabic and refers to the 1948 war, the result of which was the depopulation of two thirds of the Palestinian population, which today numbers millions of refugees. To this day many still hold the keys to their original homes, but are not allowed to return. In defiance of the law, the Israeli organization Zochrot (Hebrew, feminine “we remember”), posted a sign with the law in German throughout the core of Tel Aviv where thousands celebrated. Within minutes, police surrounded the Zochorot office.
A. Loewenstein Online Newsletter
NOVANEWS
Murdoch editor sees inside Bin Laden love shackPosted: 14 May 2011 04:54 PM PDT |
Who was behind the Palestine Papers?Posted: 14 May 2011 08:00 AM PDTThe story is out and it’s written by Ziyad Clot, a French lawyer of Palestinian descent:
In Palestine, the time has come for national reconciliation. On the eve of the 63rd commemoration of the Nakba – the uprooting of Palestinians that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948 – this is a long-awaited and hopeful moment. Earlier this year the release by al-Jazeera and the Guardian of 1,600 documents related to the so-called peace process caused deep consternation among Palestinians and in the Arab world. Covering more than 10 years of talks (from 1999 to 2010) between Israel and the PLO, the Palestine papers illustrated the tragic consequences of an inequitable and destructive political process which had been based on the assumption that the Palestinians could in effect negotiate their rights and achieve self-determination while enduring the hardship of the Israeli occupation.
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Serco making a killing from indefinite detentionPosted: 14 May 2011 04:48 PM PDTWho says that Australia’s immigration detention chaos isn’t a perfect opportunity for a privatised firm to make a fortune? The Daily Telegraph reports yesterday:
An asylum seeker boom will generate an astonishing $1 billion-plus taxpayer-funded bonanza for the controversial foreign conglomerate that runs Australia’s detention centres.
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Human rights at stake, says Amnesty, and Wikileaks helpedPosted: 14 May 2011 07:26 AM PDTHard to disagree:
The world faces a watershed moment in human rights with tyrants and despots coming under increasing pressure from the internet, social networking sites and the activities of WikiLeaks, Amnesty International says in its annual roundup. |
What went on Ghassan Jiddu Resignation from Aljazeera
NOVANEWS
غسان بن جدو ل”صباح المدى”:
“ربما اكون خسرت الجزيرة، اهم منبر اعلامي في العالم العربي الا انني ربحت نفسي”
“احذر من ان الاساءة الى سمعتي ومحاولة تشويه موقفي ستجعلني في حلٍّ من اي التزام، وعندئذ سأتحدث بكل صراحة وسأفتح ملفات عديدة”.
“بعض الجهات حذّرتني من التنبّه في تنقلاتي الا انني لم آبه كثيراً للموضوع”.
“هل يخيّل لأحد ان حزب الله او المقاومة في فلسطين او ايران سيبقون مكتوفي الايدي اذا سقط النظام في سوريا؟”
” لن استقبل اي سياسي اسرائيلي والقناة الجديدة ضد الكيان الصهيوني وضد التطبيع”
استقبل برنامج “صباح المدى” مع لانا مدوّر الاعلامي غسان بن جدّو في حلقة تكريمية، تحدث فيها للمرة الأولى عن جملة من المواضيع المتعلقة بخروجه من الجزيرة وعلاقته بالقناة التركية في بيروت، ومستقبل الازمة في سوريا، واعلن للمرة الاولى تفاصيل عن القناة الجديدة المزمع اطلاقها. وتضمنت الحلقة شهادات مسجلة لشخصيات سياسية واعلامية وفينة هم: الرئيس سليم الحصّ، مستشارة الرئيس السوري بثينة شعبان، الاعلاميين: ماغي فرح، مريم البسام، نصال الاحمدية، نجاة شرف الدين، طوني خليفة، والفنان مروان خوري. اما العماد ميشال عون فكان حديثه مباشراً على الهواء. وكانت شهادة من زوجته ندى الحسيني بن جدو. وتم في ختامها تقديم درع تكريمي من الاذاعة.
استقالته من الجزيرة:
بن جدو اعلن ان قرار استقالته جاء نتيجة تراكمات في الاداء المهني للقناة.
واذ ابدى التزامه بعدم التعرض لقناة الجزيرة، اعلن للمرة الأولى انه لم يتلقَ بعد النصّ الخطي الذي تم الاتفاق عليه في بيروت بينه وبين مدير الشؤون القانونية والذي تلتزم فيه ادارة الجزيرة بعدم التعرض له او الاساءة الى سمعته او التشهير به وبأنه لن يصله هذا الخطاب، اما الحجة التي قدمت له فهي بأن المؤسسة عادةّ لا تقدم مثل هكذا اتفاق، لذا فهو بادر الى ارسال رسالة قال فيها انه مازال محافظاً على تعهده، الا انه يعتبر ان هنالك تراجعاً تمّ فيما يتعلق بهذا النصّ. وفي موازاة هذا الامر، اشار الى ان هناك محاولات من البعض داخل القناة وخارجها بالاتفاف على قرار استقالته كموقف ليس فقط من اجل التشهير به وتشويه سمعته بل ايضاً توريطه في ملفات، لذا قال: احذر اي طرف سواء كانوا في هذا القناة ام ممن كانوا فيها سابقاً ومازاوا مستمرين في الاعيبهم، احذر من ان الاساءة الى سمعتي ومحاولة تشويه موقفي سيجعلني في حلٍّ من اي التزام، وعندئذ سأتحدث بكل صراحة وسأفتح ملفات عديدة.
بن جدو اعلن انه كان ذاهباً الى الدوحة لمناقشة قرار استقالته، الا انه ارتأى عدم الذهاب بعدما نشر خبر الاستقالة في “السفير” لأنه استقال نتيجة موقف لا يمكن التراجع عنه حتى وان ذهب الى الدوحة.
واوضح انه عندما غادر المكتب كانت توجد في بيروت لجنة تحقيق قامت بجردة الحسابات وغادرت. الا انه يفاجىء فيما بعد بعودة مجموعة من المدققين وذلك بعدما نشرت مجلة الشراع مقالاً نقلاً عن فتاتيتن مع عباس ناصر ذكروا ان غسان بن جدو كان مديراً للقناة التركية في بيروت من تحت الطاولة. وقال: لن يجد احد شي عني على الاطلاق، واذا تم التصرف بشكل كيدي سيتم الردّ بشكل لا يحبّذه.
المشكلة مع عباس ناصر:
بن جدو تحدث للمرة الاولى عن مشكلته مع عباس ناصر، وأعلن ان عباس ناصر اساء الى زملائه في المكتب واليه، وذلك بناء على نتائج خلصت اليها لجنة تحقيق شكلت وقتها، وجاء قرارها بفصله من مكتب بيروت على ان يعمل ضمن الجزيرة في بلد آخر. وقال: المشكلة ليست مع هذا الشخص، المشكلة اكبر بكثير منه وهي مع من هو اكبر واعلى منه. واضاف: لن اشرّف غادرٍ غدّار ، ولا منتهز انتهازي، ولا كاذب كذّاب ولا طاعنٍ طعّان في الظهر بنصف دقيقة من وقتي حتى اوضح خلفيات ما كان يحصل في السابق معه ومع الفتيات التي معه.
وعندما سأل عن امكانية عودة عباس ناصر لرئاسة مكتب الجزيرة في بيروت قال: هذا الامر لا يعنيني. انتهت علاقتي بالجزيرة.
ونفى ان يكون اتصل به احد من القيادة القطرية، واقتصر الاتصال على الشيخ حمد بن تامر رئيس مجلس ادارة الجزيرة، الذي تربطه به علاقة مميزة جداً، موضحاً ان القضية ليست قضية مجاملات انما قضية موقف.
واعلن انه ترك كل شيء تقريباً في المكتب حتى حلقات برنامجه حوار مفتوح لأنه منع من الادارة في الدوحة من الحصول على الاشرطة، وكل التحقيقات والتقارير غير المنجزة تبقى ملكاً للجزيرة.
واعتبر ان كل القنوات العربية اصبحت نسخة متطابقة، لأنها لا تتعاطى مع الواقع كما هو. وقال: ربما اكون خسرت الجزيرة، اهم منبر اعلامي في العالم العربي الا انني ربحت نفسي. ورداً على السؤال ، لم الآن استقال من الجزيرة، قال: انا لست رجلاً انفعالياً، انا هادىء الى درجة الملل احياناً، وقراراً كبيراً بهذا الحجم لا يمكن ان يؤخذ بسهولة خصوصاً ان علاقة صداقة تربطني مع القيادة القطرية.
ورداً على سؤال عن سبب عدم ابدائه ملاحظاته الى الادارة في الدوحة ومحاولة التغيير في السياسة التحريرية للقناة بما انه مدير مكتب ومن اهم الوجوه التي تظهر على الشاشة، قال: انا ادرك الحقيقة الموجودة، لا استطيع ان اقول كل شيء الآن.
وعن الحديث عن التهديد الامني على حياته، قال: لا اعتقد ان قطر دولة ارهابية، ولا الجزيرة منظمة ارهابية، بعض الجهات حذّرتني من التنبّه في تنقلاتي الا انني لم آبه كثيراً للموضوع.
موضوع ادارته للقناة التركية من تحت الطاولة:
غسان بن جدّو ردّ على ما نشر في مجلة الشراع على لسان موظفتين سابقتين في القناة التركية في بيروت عن انه هو مدير للمكتب من تحت الطاولة فقال: لا يشرفني مطلقاً ان اقرأ مجلة الشراع ولا ان ارفع عليها دعوة هي التي تعمّدت الاساءة اليّ في مراحل كثيرة. اما فيما يتعلق بالقناة التركية فما حصل هو التالي: ان مدير القناة التركية في اسطنبول سفر طوران هو زميل وصديق وتربطني به علاقة عائلية وهو اصبح اليوم مستشاراً للرئيس اردوغان طلب مني ان اساعده في انشاء هذه القناة وجاء الى بيروت ورشحت له عدد كبير من الزملاء وبعض الاختبارات جرت في مكتب الجزيرة لأنه يوجد تعاون كبير بين الجزيرة والقناة التركية حتى ان حفل افتتاح التركية في اسطنبول حضره مسؤول عربي وحيد هو ولي عهد قطر الشيخ تميم بن حمد بن خليفة ال ثاني، وهو قال للرئيس اردوغان اعتبر ان الجزيرة هي قناتكم، وسنساعدكم في اي شيء تريدونه. لذا كل مكاتب الجزيرة ساعدتهم حتى انا غسان بن جدو استفدت من حلقتين لحوار مفتوح قدمتها من استديوهات التلفزيون التركي في اسطنبول من دون اي مقابل. وليس الامر خافياً على احد انا كنت افكر منذ زمن والكل يعرف في الجزيرة انني كنت افكر بتأسيس شركة انتاج ترعى الشأن التركي لأنني على تماس مباشر مع شؤون تركيا حتى ان اردوغان اعرفه منذ عشرين عاماً، وبالفعل اسست الشركة وانقطعت عنها بعد ايام. لذا انا اؤكد ان شركة الانتاج التي تنتج برامج التركية في بيروت غير مملوكة من غسان بن جدو لا من قريب ولا من بعيد، ولا عندي سهم فيها وعندما سأسس شركة سأعلنها على الملأ.
وعن الراتب الذي كان يتقاضاه في الجزيرة، اعلن انه اكثر من 15000$.
منعه من دخول سوريا:
غسان بن جدو تحدث للمرة الاولى عن منعه من الدخول الى سوريا بعد ال 2005 بسبب سياسته بالتعاطي مع الاحداث في لبنان، واوصل اليه احد المسؤولين الفلسطينيين في سوريا انه غير مرحب به في دمشق. اما عن الجهة التي منعته فهي كانت جهة امنية من دون علم الرئيس بشار الاسد وبعدها سوّيت الامور عندما تحدث الى احد المسؤولين هناك ورفع قرار حظر دخوله.
علاقته مع سوريا والاحداث الاخيرة:
ين جدو نفى ان يكون قد التقى الرئيس بشار الاسد خلال الاحداث الاخيرة في سوريا. ورداً على سؤال عن الجهة التي موّلت اليافطات في سوريا وعمّا اذا كان الشخص هو ابن خال الرئيس السوري رامي مخلوف الموضوع على لائحة العقوبات، قال: اتصل بي احد الاشخاص من حلب وهو لديه شركة اعلانات وأعلمني انه هو من علّق هذه اليافطات ، نافياً علمه بموضوع رامي مخلوف.
واوضح ان ما حصل في سوريا تغير، فالتحركات بدأت مشروعة تريد الاصلاح وترفع مطالب معيشية الا ان الوضع تغير واصبحت تجمعات مسلّحة مع ظهور امني كبير في الشوارع، يوجد عصابات مدرّبة لديها مدافع واسلحة، ومعلوماتي موثّقة، وهي انحرفت عن مسارها ولا اوافق على تسميتها بالثورة. وقال: ان الهدف ليس فقط تركيع النظام السوري انما ايضاً اسقاطه من قبل اطراف عربية واجنبية متورطة في سفك الدماء، كاشفاً عن انه سمع تسجيلاً لاحدى الشخصيات هنا في لبنان مع شخصية معارضة سوريّة يفبركان وينظمان قضية الاتصالات وكيف سيتواصلون مع الفضائيات، وقد قُدّم له هذا الامر على اساس ان يبثّه على الهواء او يطّلع عليه الا ان القرار الآن يقضي بعدم كشف هؤلاء.
وقال: المعارضون الحقيقيون الآن في سوريا موجودون في بيوتهم مثل ميشال كيلو ومحمد ملص وغيرهم…واضاف: ان البعض يريد ان يتعاطى مع سوريا كسوريا الا انه اغفل حقيقة استراتيجية كبرى هي انه يتعاطى مع منظومة يسميها البعض محور المقاومة او الممانعة، لذا اي ضغط يستهدف الرئيس السوري سيفجر المنطقة، وسأل: هل يخيّل لأحد ان حزب الله او المقاومة في فلسطين او ايران سيبقوم مكتوفي الايدي اذا سقط النظام في سوريا؟
واعلن ان مشروع اسقاط النظام السوري فشل، ما يحصل الآن هو محاولة لتركيع النظام وستفشل هي ايضاً.
الفضائية الجديدة:
بن جدو اعلن ان الفضائية الجديدة لن تنافس احداً لأن موازنتها ستكون متواضعة وستبدأ بموازنة تبلغ تقريباً من 30 الى 40 مليون دولار.
واوضح ان سعر السهم سيبلغ 100$، وسيبدأ الشهر المقبل بجولة اكتتاب على مجموعة من الدول وبإمكان كل الناس ان تشارك بالاستثمار، على ان يعلن عن بداية الاكتتاب من خلال مؤتمر صحافي.
سياسة المحطة سترتكز على ثلاثة عناصر اساسية: اولاً: المهنية ونقل الواقع كما هو. الثاني: مع الاصلاح وضد التطرف مهما كان مصدره. الثالث: ضد الاحتلال والهيمنة ومع مقاومتها. كل هذه العناوين ستصاغ بطريقة مهنية. وقال انه لن يستقبل اي سياسي اسرائيلي وهي ضد الكيان الصهيوني وضد التطبيع، ولن تتبع لأي نظام ولن تمارس الفتنة. وكشف ان من بين رجال الاعمال الذين عرضوا تمويلاً واحد سعودي والأخر قطري، واعلن انه سيكون صحافياً في هذه القناة وسيعين مديراً لها. ودعا الناس الى اختيار اسم للقناة الجديدة عبر صفحته الرسمية على الفايسبوك.
Here's your reading list, Mr. President
NOVANEWS

With one sentence, the New York Times raised dozens of Middle East pundits’ hopes that their words were reaching the most powerful man in the world. “At night in the family residence…Mr. Obama often surfs the blogs of experts on Arab affairs or regional news sites to get a local flavor for events,” read Mark Landler’s account of how the Obama administration will attempt to use the killing of Osama bin Laden to recast the U.S. relationship with the Arab world.
Well, Mr. President, we have some late-night reading suggestions for you. First, of course, there’sMarc Lynch and the Middle East Channel – Foreign Policy’s own contribution to the fast-changing world of politics in the Arab world. But there’s also an entire community of Middle East bloggers who obsessively follow and comment on developments in their countries, and throughout the region.
Caveat emptor: Many of these authors will take you outside the comfort zone of the Washington policy debate. What’s more, if you tried to gather them all in one room, you’d be virtually guaranteed a fight. But these blogs will also give you a more realistic sense of the political conversation in the Arab world. Don’t stay up too late – you have a full-time job, after all.
Broader Middle East
Brian Whitaker
The Arabist
The Angry Arab News Service
Egypt
Rantings of a Sandmonkey
Sarah Carr’s Inanities
Zeinobia’s Egyptian Chronicles
Syria
Joshua Landis’s Syria Comment
A Gay Girl in Damascus
Syria News Wire
The Damascus Bureau
Libya
CJ Chivers’s The Gun
Enough Gaddafi
Alive in Libya
Persian Gulf
Crossroads Arabia
Tom Finn
Jeb Boone
American Bedu
Lebanon
Qifa Nabki
Across the Bay
Friday Lunch Club
Beirut Spring
Iraq
Iraq and Gulf Analysis
Musings on Iraq
North Africa
Laila Lalami
Maghreb Blog
The Moor Next Door
Bouguerra
Turkey
Istanbul Calling
Kamil Pasha
Aljazeera: as a typical regime station
NOVANEWS
““They have lost their credibility in the Arab world, by either covering developments one sided — or completely ignoring them,” said As’ad AbuKhalil, author of the Angry Arab News Service, a widely read blog about media coverage of the Arab world, and a prominent voice among the growing number of academics and media analysts speaking out against the network. “They became a typical regime station,” he wrote Saturday. “Their political agenda is not even masked.”“




